Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society

Editor: Robert D. Sampson

DETAILS

Current Volume: 118 (2025)

Issued quarterly (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter)

ISSN: 1522-1067

eISSN: 2328-3335

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About

The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (JISHS), established in 1908, is the scholarly publication of the Illinois State Historical Society, a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and publishing the latest research about the Prairie State. The peer-reviewed Journal welcomes articles, essays, and documents about history, literature, art, technology, law, and other subjects related to Illinois and the Midwest.

Listen to our podcast with editor Dr. Robert D. Sampson.

Read the Harry E. Pratt Award for Outstanding Article winners:

Indexes

America: History and Life, Brepols, Current Abstracts, Dietrich's Index Philosophicus, Gale Academic OneFile, Gale OneFile: US History, Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur, Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes - und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur, MasterFILE Complete, MLA International Bibliography, Periodicals Index Online, ProQuest 5000, ProQuest Central, PubMed, Research Library, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale), TOC Premier

MEMBERSHIP RATES

Publications included in ISHS membership are the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society and the Society's popular magazine, Illinois Heritage. The ISHS membership period is from January 1 through December 31.

Click here to become a member for all individual and student memberships, as well as for print-only memberships for public libraries and other institutions.

Individuals:	1 Year
Print + Online	$60
Family: Print + Online	$70
Sustaining: Print + Online	$100
Donor: Print + Online	$250
Patron: Print + Online	$500
Lincoln Silver: Print + Online	$1,000

Students:	1 Year
Print + Online Only	$30

Public Libraries:	1 Year
Print Only	$75

Institutions:	1 Year
Print Only	$80
Online Only	$90*
Print + Online	$105*
*Institutional 'Online Only' and 'Print + Online' subscriptions must be purchased through the Scholarly Publishing Collective.

Non-U.S. Postage: $10 Canada/Mexico, $35 Other Non-U.S. Locations

Single Issues: $18 plus shipping

ONLINE + PRINT ADVERTISING

The print ad rates for all our titles can be found in the 2025 journals catalog/rate card.

Click here to download the PDF version

Editors

Editor
Robert D. Sampson
Retired, Millikin University, Decatur
rsampson@illinois.edu

Contributing Editor
William Furry
Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield
PO Box 1800
Springfield, IL 62705-1800

Book Review Editor
Kelly O'Connor
History Department, Crown Center, 5th Floor
Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL 60660
Kocon6@luc.edu

Special Projects Editor
Timothy D. Draper
Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove

Editorial Advisory Board

Jenny Barker-Devine, Illinois College, Jackson
Robert I. Girardi, Civil War Round Table, Company of Military Historians, Chicago
Greg Hall, Western Illinois University, Macomb
Kristin Hoganson, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Robert D. Johnston, University of Illinois at Chicago
Theodore J. Karamanski, Loyola University Chicago
Ann Durkin Keating, North Central College, Naperville
Bonnie Laughlin-Schultz, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston
Arthur Martin, Jenner & Block, LLP, Chicago
Robert McColley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Eileen McMahon, Lewis University, Romeoville
Dominic Pacyga, Columbia College, Chicago
Robert Paulett, Southern Illinois University, Eswardsville
Shirley J. Portwood, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Barbara Posadas, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb
Debra Reid, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston
Amy Tyson, Depaul University, Chicago

Staff

Executive Director
William Furry

Office Manager
Mary Lou Johnsrud

Administrative Assistant
Kimberly Jones

PDF Policy

PDFs are permitted and issued for the following:

Tenure dossier.
Special workshops the author is moderating.
Other requests to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
All PDFs will include a statement of copyright and a provision that the articles will not be photocopied, distributed, or used for purposes other than the terms agreed to by UIP.

Preprints are permitted for:

University repositories; UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the preprint.
Some journals have their own established policies and procedures for preprints. Please be sure to first check their respective Web sites before sending your request.

Postprints are permitted for:

Non-profit archives and repositories; Articles must be at least one year old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.
Personal and commercial Web sites; Articles must be at least three years old. UIP requires a publication statement to be posted along with the postprint and a link back to the journal of publication's home page on the UIP website.

Please contact the Intellectual Property Manager for more information.

Please send all requests to:

Angela Burton
Intellectual Property Manager
UIP-RIGHTS@uillinois.edu

Submissions

We welcome essays, articles, and documents about Illinois, or its Midwest region. Studies about literature, art, technology, law, or other subjects are also welcome.

Authors should follow The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (University of Chicago Press) or imitate notes in this journal; use endnotes. Authors who desire illustrations should provide them; authors are solely responsible for obtaining any rights or permissions to reproduce. Articles average 12,000 words (including notes) but we have accepted articles from 4,000 to 15,000 words.

Authors desiring to submit original articles for publication consideration may send an electronic copy (in .doc or .docx format) to Robert D. Sampson, Editor, JISHS, by email to rsampson@illinois.edu.

Send books for review to Kelly O'Connor, Book Review Editor, JISHS; History Department, Crown Center, 5th Floor, Loyola University Chicago, 1032 W. Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL 60660; email: Kocon6@luc.edu.

Articles appearing in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society are abstracted and indexed in both Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. The Journal is a member of the Conference of Historical Journals.

Neither the editors nor the Illinois State Historical Society assume any responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, made by contributors.

Peer Review Policy

Submissions to the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society follow this procedure:

Identities of both reader and author (s) are not shared with either party. The reader receives an article with the author’s name removed. The reader’s report to the editor of the Journal, when forwarded to the author, does not include the reader’s name. It is a double-blind process.
Readers are selected based on their expertise and experience in the field addressed in the submission. Readers are primarily academics though some are lay historians who have expertise or are published authors in the field.
While some readers are members of the Journal’s editorial advisory board such duties ARE NOT part of their role on the board. Members of the advisory board primarily oversee the Journal through regular reports from the editor and their own observations. The board is, as indicated by name, a group that offers advice and guidance on the Journal’s overall mission and conduct. Most readers do not serve on the advisory board and have no direct connection with the Journal.
The editor may not forward a submission to a reader if the submission fails to meet Journal standards.
The Journal has compiled a list of readers by topics, regions, and period of history. The editor uses this list to select potential readers for a submission.
Readers, as noted above, are selected for their expertise and experience in each field or topic. They are not reimbursed for their work. They submit a detailed report, including criticisms and suggestions for improvements and one of three recommendations: 1. Publish without revision; 2. Publish only with revisions (ranging from minor to significant); and 3. Do not publish.

View our Publications Ethics and Malpractice Statement